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A Nod to Bacchus

By Frank Bruni September 13, 2006 11:57 amSeptember 13, 2006 11:57 am

In my review today of Trestle on Tenth, a new restaurant in Chelsea, I devote a bunch of paragraphs to its wine list, which strikes me as exemplary in several regards, including the adventurousness of many of the selections and the pricing of just about all of them.

As I perused it during my dinners there and as I looked at it anew when I was away from the restaurant, I was reminded that diners’ unquestionably intensified interest in wine isn’t always matched by unquestionably better wine lists like this restaurant’s.

Restaurants have longer lists, sure. They offer more and more wines by the glass: a laudable development. If they’re ethnic restaurants and the countries reflected in their menus happen to produce wine, they tend more than ever to try to showcase bottles from those countries.

But still, many wine lists disappoint, while many others try to fleece customers. That’s why I was so encouraged by what I saw at Trestle on Tenth. And that’s why, for this post, I combed by memory, reached out to some wine-fixated friends and colleagues, and sought to come up with additional examples of restaurants below the fanciest, most expensive echelons that have put together interesting or affordable wine lists.

I chatted with my colleague Eric Asimov, the chief wine critic of the Times and the author of a blog on wine. Before I asked him to mention some wine lists around town that he liked, I asked him for the lowdown on mark-up’s: on what’s standard, what’s acceptable and what’s not.

“Two times the retail price is fair,” Eric said. “At three times it’s really a rip-off.”

On lists I’ve looked at in the past, a mark-up of nearly two and a half times retail, at least on the bottles with the lowest retail prices, was unexceptional. Trestle’s bottles seem to be priced at — or, in some cases, slightly under — a 200 percent target.

Eric noted that a mark-up is a sometimes hard calculation to make. If a restaurant bought a bottle of wine 10 years ago, when its retail price was $30, and has devoted space and care to making sure it ages properly, shouldn’t it be charging more than 200 or 250 or even 300 percent of the retail price back then? That might well be justified.

But should it charge 250 percent of the retail price of that bottle now? That would seem less reasonable.

As for restaurants that deserve to be singled out, Eric noted that Landmarc in TriBeCa and Mermaid Inn in the East Village both have publicly stated commitments to marking up wine less severely than other restaurants do. These two restaurants have gambled that the good will and the business earned by such policies will make up for the diminished profit on each bottle of wine.

Landmarc’s goal, according to its publicist, is to sell bottles of wine at close to the retail price. (The restaurant acquires them at a wholesale price, so it still makes money on each bottle.) Mermaid Inn’s policy is to charge $15 above what the bottle costs the restaurant, meaning the wholesale price. So the percentage markup is very little on more expensive bottles, which are therefore the best deals. The list in its entirety encompasses only about 35 wines.

In terms of interesting wine selections, restaurants that came quickly to Eric’s mind included Bette, about which Eric wrote a recent blog post. When I reviewed Bette, I too was impressed by some of the wines I found on its list.

Like Trestle on Tenth, Bette goes in search of off-the-beaten-track wines from small producers, and Eric told me that he thinks Bette’s list, longer than Trestle’s, “is even smarter in some ways.”

“Trestle on Tenth is like a junior Bette,” Eric said.

Eric also mentioned three of the less expensive restaurants in the Batali-Bastianch empire: Otto, Lupa and Casa Mono. The first two showcase Italian wines. Casa Mono celebrates Spanish wines.

And Eric drew attention to several restaurants that promote what he termed “natural wines,” a phrase he said he was using as an umbrella term for organic wines, biodynamic wines, low-sulfite wines and wines from producers “who are really working in an artisanal way.” The restaurants he cited were 360 and Ici, both in Brooklyn.

Alice Feiring, a deeply knowledgeable and passionately committed wine writer with her own blog, said that in her view, Mermaid Inn’s list had improved markedly over time. She threw the name of another restaurant into the mix, praising the wine list at the branch of Frankies Spuntino on the Lower East Side as one with inspired, affordable selections.

Alice herself authored the unusual wine list at Yuva, an Indian restaurant on the East Side. And I should mention, in the interests of full disclosure, that she’s a friend.

It’s on purpose that I’m not focusing here on high-end restaurants like Le Bernardin, with its fantastic French selection, or Veritas and Cru, with their famously epic lists.

What I’m applauding here are places without those restaurants’ budgets, histories or cellars — restaurants that have had to rely on imagination, inspiration and judgment more than resources. I remember seeing interesting bottles on the lists not just at Bette and Otto but also at Telepan and Cookshop, to add another two restaurants to the discussion. And to add two more: Alto and, in a very different vein, Fatty Crab.

What immediately caught my eye at Trestle was what the list didn’t have. There were none of those often vapid New Zealand sauvignons that have achieved such unfathomable by-the-glass hegemony around town. There weren’t many merlots. There wasn’t a single pinot grigio or pinot gris.

In other words, there was an attempt to move people beyond the familiar. That’s worthy of praise.

What a coincidence. My husband and I were just at Landmarc this weekend and experienced firsthand the low mark-ups. We had a half-bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne for $18 ($16.99 retail) and the 1997 Château Musar for $52 (~$40-$44 retail). The list wasn’t the deepest we’d ever seen, but the prices — and the overall fun we had — more than made up for that.

As for interesting wine lists, we find the quality and breadth of the list at Otto, well, breathtaking, especially considering the relative casualness and low price point of the food. We’ve had a few bottles in the $50-$100 range (and the list goes well beyond that), but more often than not have found excellent choices in the $28-$45 range, usually by going to less prominent regions of Italy or nearby countries like Croatia and Slovenia.

Thank you for celebrating restaurants with imaginative, reasonably priced wine lists. I am so tired of seeing the same bottle time after time. I love when a restaurant encourages experimentation by making less celebrated or less common wines available. Why fall back on an old standby when you can try something new?

Landmarc sounds like quite a find… for New York, that is. In Montreal, there are restaurants of every cuisine that operate as BYOWs (Bring Your Own Wine) and they’ve all got zero corkage fees!

I know some people think BYOW equals mediocrity. Fine dining is when chefs and sommeliers work together to really elevate the experience. I see the point.

That’s why I ask my favorite BYOW restaurant to send me the full menu when I’ve got a special occasion dinner. I’ll even check out the scene at lunch the day before. That’s exactly when I did in curating this wine list which came from my own cellar. I say nothing beats being your own sommelier when the chef lefts you in on what he’s got cooking.

I’m wondering which New Zealand sauvignons are so vapid as to raise your ire?

We served Matua S/B by the glass until it became unavailable. Wine Spectator rated their reserve in the top 50 wines of the year. We’re now serving Spineyback S/B which has an even more robust grapefruit finish. Customers love it. These are jump in the mouth wines, you know saltimbocco.

We also serve by bottle only: Craggy Range, a top ten from Gourmet Magazine, Kim Crawford, and Whitehaven.

These might be mainstream New Zealanders on the USA market but I would hardly consider them vapid.

I might be more forgiving of higher markups if restaurants employ a full-time sommelier and use better glassware such as riedel and spiegelau.
They are added expenses that nevertheless make the wine experience more enjoyable.

I just want to echo Marcus’ comments. I live in New Jersey which is blessed by the presence of scores of good quality BYO restaurants. I don’t think bringing one’s own wine equals mediocrity at all. I always take four bottles of good wine (two whites and two reds) and make a selection based on what is ordered. Even when more wine is opened than can we can drink (a difficult but not impossible situation), we cork them back up, put them back in the carrier, and bring them home. What’s not to like?

Of course when restaurants charge only minimally over retail, the advantage of BYOs is diminished, and the overall enjoyment of restaurant-going is enhanced. I also think such establishments will make at least as much money in increased volume. It is too bad that short-sighted greed so often rules.

My girlfriend and I found the list (and sommelier) to be very helpful at Cookshop. Not only was he incredibly helpful in picking a wine, but 10 minutes later we saw him “helping” a inebriated patron find his way into the back of a police car. Quite the skilled wine steward.

What about the role the sommelier or waitstaff plays in making any wine list accessible? Even if not the most interest selection?

Re Alfred in comment #5: You should check out the list of New Zealand wines at PUBLIC on Elizabeth Street. Tons of interesting bottles (not your usual Cloudy Bay et al) and a well-edited selection of tough to find Central Otago and Martinborough Pinot Noirs. I love this restaurant for their wine list. Always very intriguing choices to be found, from small wineries that aren’t so common in New York.

Thank you winegirl, that is an outstanding list at Public. The kind of list that would imply the best crystal being used and require the assistance of a sommelier. I’m sure they have both. I liked their use of the word antipodean to describe their list.

Considering the markups not exactly the kind of list combining eclectic choice and reasonable pricing people are looking for in this article and comment section.

Frank–Sorry but I entirely agree with Alfred and winegirl (#s 5 and 9) that SBs from New Zealand are far from vapid or insipid. Craggy Range, Spy Valley, Foxes Island, so many winereies offer SBs of distinction and character and are very high on the value/price to quality list. Think again about these unique whites when you’re out and about, perhaps when you next visit PUBLIC.

We recently ate at Senderens in Paris, a Michelin 2 star restaurant with a great wine list. The menu paired wines with each course.The suggested wines were somewhat unusual, very good and very reasonably priced. For example one wine with a duck entree was from Cyprus. The suggested wines cost from 6 Euros to 12 Euros by the glass.Not only that but I asked the sommelier to suggest a different dessert wine than the one on the menu, a perfect opportunity for a big charge, and he chose a wine just as I had described and it too was very reasonable.
This wine policy not only made the meal more interesting – between my wife and I we had 6 different wines – but the cost of the meal was unbelievably reasonable, much cheaper than any comparable restaurant in NY.Imagine one of the top NY restaurants such as Le Bernardin having a wine policy like this.
Would love to see something like this in a NY restaurant? Are the economics of a restaurant so different in Paris and NY?

I recently discovered and wrote about a Kansas City restaurant, Bluestem, that besides innovative cuisine offers a well priced and geographically varied wine list. Most prices for the wines by the glass were very reasonable.

I don’t know what you’re talking about. Almost any high-end NY restaurant will gladly pair wines for you at a very reasonable cost. Including virtually all of NY’s 2 and 3 star Michelin restaurants. You just have to ask the sommelier. Just because they don’t mention it on the menu (though many NY restaurants do in fact advertise their wine-pairings: Per Se, 11 Madison, Urena, WD-50 etc. etc.).

I frequently eat in west chelsea with a couple I saw last night. We’d all seen Bruni’s review of Trestle on 10th and I asked them if they were going to try it. Their response was, and I agree – who cares about a wine list when the food isn’t any good.
we’re happy at cookshop ever time for food and wine.

At our fine dining restaurant in Upstate NY we price our wines at about 2 to 2-1/2 retail, and considerably less for the more expensive wines. We also make a point of not offering any wines that can’t be found retail. The large wholesalers that we buy from tell us that this is not the way the fine NY City Restaurants they sell to do it. The way a restaurant makes money on their wine list, we are told, is to offer wines from little known wine growing regions, with names no one has ever seen, and most importantly with retail prices no one will ever see. They offer us these wines from Corsica, Slovinia,Yugoslavia and Spain to mention a few, for two to three dollars a bottle saying that the best NY City are serving these for 20$ a botttle and 6$ a glass. Sampling them I find them fair at best, but then there is the 10 to 1 mark-up that guananteed, no one will ever discover! We stay away from these bargins, and stick to the “mainstream” wines from the well known wine growing regions that have been tasted by many and earned their reputation. I think it is great for restaurants to move into unknown territory with their wine list, but I hope it is for the right reason.

” Two times retail” etc. Let’s back up. The resturant is buying the wine at about 60% of the “retail” cost. So “two times retail” is actually better than three times its real cost. Possibly the multiple that many kitchens (a high cost center in the business) aim for in pricing food items. So it’s three times cost for in most cases relatively brief storage and other costs connected with the wine etc. Yes, licenses cost money, but the truth of the matter is that the wine (and alcohol generally) in the US is the big profit center. I say go to places which reduce the price of wine and make it a non luxury, non snob experience, as in most of Europe. And I hope they sell enough wine that the two and three (and four) times retail rip off artists are forced to abandon their fattest profit policies. Not likely, but…

PS I can’t think of a place where the wine has gotten better faster (well maybe S.Africa) than NZ.. “Vapid” the NZ SBs aren’t. Mr. Bruni’s oenological verbal palette needs reloading. Overdone on occasion, but so are Cal. chards.

tmcotter and others that are aghast about mark ups on wine should consider the mark up of the food item. Think about that $24 to $42 steak, depending on where you eat. What do you think the wholesale price is for an 8 ounce filet mignon? If food cost is over 35% the restaurant is dead, more likely the food cost is kept below 30%. Granted, the added value generated by cooking and presenting the food item far out weighs the added value of storing and opening a bottle of wine. But it is a total dining experience.

What do you think the mark up is on that Starbuck’s espresso you just had? I hear New York is finally getting on the high end coffee binge enjoyed around the nation.

Some interesting facts about the restaurant business.

For every dollar in sales it brings in, a restaurant keeps less than five cents in profit.

* 26 percent of restaurants fail within the first year.
* 59 percent fail within the first three years.

It’s a tough business so support those you like and pay the mark up please.

I was having lunch in one of the few restaurants in NYC that has four stars. I know the Sommelier, and mentioned to him (discreetly) that he was selling a wine for $10 a glass, and I was making a nice profit in my shop, selling it for $8 a bottle. “I have to charge that much, or my customers will think that the wine isn’t any good.”

IMPORTANT INFO:
I appreciated the Blog about good winelists. As a wine buyer in Manhattan I felt a few things needed to be clarified…
To judge a the mark up of wine on a restaurants list by comparing to “retail prices” is wrong! Sommeliers do not mark up off of retail they use wholesale prices instead. I know the general public does not have access to wholesale prices but “retail prices” vary more than restaurant prices in this city.
In Manhattan alone I have seen the same bottle of wine at $25 at one location and $38 at another. If the store your referencing is in Harlem or Flushing you will have a much lower mark up than Times Square. Therefore the point made in the article about comapring restaurant prices to retail is completely misleading!

to alfred: the mark-up on high-end items like steaks is not really that significant, once one figures in other components on the plate and the labor involved. the cost-leaders are pasta and veggie dishes. why do you think steak-houses charge $8 for a baked potato? it boggles my mind that high-end places (including my own employer) easily charge $25 and up for pasta entrees, with an actual food cost of $2 or $3 a plate. i don’t see much whinging about that anywhere…

but as you also mention, the mark-ups on alcohol and wine are what keep restaurants in business. people constantly moan about wine mark-ups, but do you have any idea what the pricing ratio is for beers, liquors and bottled water?

while some customers may not blink at ordering several bottles of $200 napa cab, (those guys are like shooting fish in a barrel) one of the skills i have as a sommelier is offering good values that make people happy. if somebody tells me they really like rosemount (sp?) shiraz, and do i have anything like that, i’m never going to suggest a $300 chris ringland selection. i want them to come back, ya know?

and to lou, #18: with diligence, there are values to be had wholesale without resorting to middling plonk from slovenia. as a buyer it takes a bit of extra effort, but one thing i pride myself on is unknown exclusive gems. if it’s not delicious, i don’t care how inexpensive it might be to me. it ceases to be a good potential value to my guests if it’s substandard to the rest of my list. and lastly, the fact that something has been tasted by many and is widely available, doesn’t mean a thing.

I think what bothers people about excessive wine mark ups, and not about [more?] excessive food mark ups, is that with food there usually is some kind of transformation going on: a 99 cents box of Barilla or a $1.99 pork chop is being made into dinner, hopefully delicious.

However an $8.99 bottle of plonk is often stored too warm, plopped on the table and opened with a noticeable lack of skill and panache, and then priced at $35 or $40 or more.